The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-03-12

I
wheels which were bearing her away
from him, seemed to pass over his
heart.
(Co,stinsse7.l
..'' " THACKERAY.
lJulian Hawthorne in The Epoch.l
Thackery is to literature what salt Is
ity and vigor. Let the great army Of
righteous; let the butterfly ssrealists"
Of to day read him, and be either killed
or cured. But when 1t comes to select
ing any particular volume Of his, one
is like the ass between two bundles Of
hay, and would better cut the knot by
appropriating both. Some of bis best
is In everything OF his; no one story
contains 1t all. The short pieces are apt
to be the richer In proportion to their
length. A selection of these was pub
ltshed in Boston some twenty years
ago, under the title OF CLEARLY aud Late
Papers, !" and ]. can never repay thedebt
i owe to 1t. There Is an article there
called "Memorials OF Gormandixing,"
all about the good dinners that Michael
Angelo Titmarsh used to eat when he
was a young Bohemian knocking about
Paris and other Bohemieu resorts.
That article Is as natural as q baby, as
wise as Col. Pendennis, as graphic %
Cruikshank, as humorous as Thackeray
at his best. 1t was written fifty years
ago, the period of Pelham, of Vivian
Gray, OF Mrs. Trollope. = What must
the readers Of that age have thought OF
such paper ? Tltmarsh and Co.," Il
appears, we're dining at the Cafe Foy.
After finishing the besfsteak, and sop
ping up the gravy with bits of bread,
they were almost impelled to counter
mand the perdreau aux tluf1es for lack
of room for 1t. But, sspoor blind NOR
tails that we were! ungrateful to our
appetites, needlessly mistrustful and
cowardly! A man may do what he
dares nor does he know, until he
tries, what the honest appetite will
bear. We were kept waiting between
the steak aud the partridge some ton
minutes or so. For the first two or
three minutes we lay back In our chairs
quiet, exhausted indeed. Then we be.
gan to fiddle with adish of tooth>picks,
for want OF anything more savory !;
then we looked out Of the window !;
then g. got In a rage, rung the bell
violently, and asked, 'Pourquoi diable
nous fait on attendre 81 lo1gtemps p
The waiter grinned. He Is a nice,
good humored fellow, Auguste; aud l
heartily trust that some reader Of this
may give him five franc piece for
my sake, Auguste grinned and dis
appeared. ..'. r
"Presently we were aware Of an
odor gradually coming towards US,
something musky, fiery, savory, mys,
terious-a hot, dr0Wsy smell, that lulls
the senses and yet inflames them-ths
troubles were coming! Yonder they
lie, caverned under the full bosom OF
the red,legged bird. My hand trem-
bled as, after little pause, cut the
animal in two. G.. said I did not give
him his share of the troufles; don't
believe did. spilled some salt into
my plate, and a little Cayenne pepper
very little; we began, as far as can
remember, the following conversar
tion:"
But will not repeat that unprece
dented bit of dialogue. Yes, know
that this is not q passage by which to
estimate the genius OF the author o.
"Vanity Fair" and stHenry Esmond. .
But il any one fancies that any person
of less genius than the creator ol
"Becky Sharp" "Colonel Newcome'
t and "Beatrix" could have written the
3 above selection, let him try TO match
, it himself, either with his own pen o.
y by searching through the works Of hi
contemporaries. The astonishing case
vigor, freshness and Independence O.
= Thackeray's style, his power Of giving
3 absolutely lucid embodiment to hi
thought, is nowhere better exempt
;, fed. Those who know what writinI
u is will appreciate the wonderful
n strength of those early pieces. Thei
IS topics are, for the most part, studied.
,s trifling the tone Is that of c0lloquia
= badinage !; but every word belongs
y literature, and the sterling, uniqu
~ quality of the writer shines splendidI
'r in its humble setting. Nothing bette
Ie could happen to our current iiteratur
than to get inoculated with the spir
of Thackeray. / say with his spirit
E. I do not mean that we should gaivs
j. nize his dead bones, as w. L. Norr
10 has been doing the last ten years.
W Papa's Lullaby.
- n.1o -x.t LAT